Useful Searches

Welcome to PlowSite. Notice a fresh look and new features? It’s now easier to share photos and videos, find popular topics fast, and enjoy expanded user profiles. If you have any questions, click HELP at the top or bottom of any page, or send an email to help@plowsite.com. We welcome your feedback.

Who's been sued?

Ok, we talk all the time about mitigating liability. This comes up in pre-treating, salting, trigger depths, contracts, and insurance, not to mention just about any other part of our business. I FULLY understand that lawyers are hungry, as are the general public, and we live in a society in which people are not willing to take responsibility for their own actions.

*BUT*

Who's actually been sued? What was the situation and how bad did it hurt you?

We have been sued a few times. For slip and falls, the first few times we were not prepared, we didnt have driver records and other important facts like temp. weather, ect. After that we have been fairly well prepared. In all the cases that we have been involved in they have taken years to get anywhere, and always the insurance company has provided the lawyer and handled everything, we have just had to go to the depostion, and give our side, In our cases we have been a co-defendant with the property owner so we have been dealing with their lawyers also. We have never seen a major increase in our rates, and we have been able to change insurance companies without any major problems. It has been a headache and sometimes a little upsetting but we have gotten through it with no problems. It is just part of doing business now a days. IT is just not that fun ti get a knock at the door and have it be a sheriff handing you a summons for court. But that is what we pay all that money for insurance for. Just My two cents

Two years ago a ups man tried suing me cause he jumped out of his truck in the middle of an ice storm and broke his leg. Are ya ready for this? he wanted over a million dollars! Withing the first 15 minutes of the case the judge had me take the stand and questioned me. Last thing he said was do you keep records? Most certainly I do! and I handed him my log. He looked at it for about a minute and said wow you keep accurate records, You betcha I do I told him. He then told the ups guy that I did everything I could and he should have been more careful during an Ice storm. Case closed he got nothing. I've learned one thing from that-Records records records keep them accurate.

time dispatched
time arrived at lot
condition of lot & service performed
conditions or situations out of the norm (semi parked in middle of lot etc..)
amount of salt used and areas salted
time in service

the dispatcher also keps a redundant sheet with the same info and amount of snow fallen & summary of the snow event such as (rain to freezing rain to wet snow,then rapidly falling temps to about 15degrees with light blowing snow tapered after midnight)

Basically the same, except one very important entry inspected, date and time, no action required. We also rate the results of the service preformed, instead of a check mark beside plowed, salted we enter an e excellent to p poor. We also have a box at the bottom for incidents i.e. hit curb, broke plow, backed over old lady in white Neon etc. The key word up here is "Due Diligence" if you can show that you did everything within normal guidelines to prevent the incident, then you can't be held responsible for it.

We had a few try,but again,when they saw the records,they dropped the case.

The drivers\operators fill out everything on their route sheets,and myself and the foreman use small recorders or Pocket PC's to keep detailed notes on each site.It all gets downloaded at the end of each storm.

Keep the records for a long time.One of the times they tried to sue us was almost two years later.I didn't even remember what happened that far back,and if I didn't have my records,I would have been screwed.

One other thing I keep track of is the weather and site conditions even when it's not snowing.I jot down the conditions a few times a day,so your bases are covered if they try to claim they fell the day after a storm,or between storms.

We were named as co-defendant once. fortunately I took digital pics within 1 hr of the incident. I showed that it was a backed-up gutter that caused the ice, not anything we did. Our name was removed from the suit. I never heard the results. document DOCUMENT ! Pics work well.

Insurance is a MUST, because god forbid the judge dosn't see things the way you do, or your drivers (or yourself) screw up.
Things could get really messy, resulting in a judgment against you. I doubt any of us have a couple mil. $'s to write off as a learning experience.

Basically the same, except one very important entry inspected, date and time, no action required.

Click to expand...

I'm kind of leery of that last bit--"no action required". That implies that you have assumed full responsibility for the condition of the property. Say there's a claim and they contend that there was an icy patch that you failed to treat. Now you're standing alone. *You* decided that there was no hazard, and unless you can convince the court that there was some act of God that caused that icy patch *after* you left the property, the court might find you at fault. (I'm not speaking from experience, but that's the way I specualte things could go.)

I have been sued several times at my bar for
assault and battery cases where a couple of
drunk knuckleheads beat each other up.
Like its my fault !!!!!!!!!!!!

The insurance company no longer covers assault
and battery claims......BUMMER
I have been to court with $$$ lawyer. PIA, But
never had to pay anybody anything........

As far as slip and fall........I have had a few of those.
Mostly old and infirm folks going into the resturant
for coffee.......Makes me cring when I see them coming.
Always tripping on the carpets, steps, etc...........
Out and about in the worst weather too !
The insurance company pays all of these cases !

NOTE: Most of these folks WON'T sue...They only
want what their insurance don't cover !

But, The sadness of one of our senior friends
getting a broken hip or severe injury slipping
or falling and then ending up in the nursing home
sure SUCKS !
I know in a few years I will be them............geo